mmfmmsmmmmmsmii^.

Vitae Sanctorum HiberniaePARTIM HACTENVS INEDITAE AD FIDEM CODICVM MANVSCRIPTORVM RECOGNOVIT PROLEGOMENIS NOTIS INDICIBVS INSTRVXIT

CAROLUS PLUMMERCOLLEGII CORPORIS CHRISTI

A.M.

APUD OXONIENSES

SOCIUS ET CAPELLANUS

TOMVS PRIMVS

OXONIIE

TYPOGRAPHEO CLARENDONIANO

MCMX

HENRY FROWDE,

M.A.

FUBUSHER TO THE DNIVERSITY OF OXFORD

LONDON, EDINBURGH, NEW YORK

TORONTO AND MELBOURNE

6X

h

1

;

PREFACETheobject of the present

students

of

Irish

Hagiology

work is and

to

make

available for

Ecclesiastical

History

materials which have either not been printed before, or whichare only to be found scattercd through the vast Bollandist

Acta Sanctorum, or in scarce seventeenth century books like Colgans Acta Sanctorum Hiberniae, andCollection of the

Fleming's

Collectanea Sacra

;

works which require a longcases

purse for their acquisition, and ample shelf-room for their

accommodation

;

and, moreover, do not inin respect of editing.

all

come up

to

modern standards

The manuscript

sources from which the h'ves in the present

collection are derived are

enumerated andcharacter and

criticized in Part

I

of the Introduction.

The

mode

of composition

of the lives, and the nature

and value of the information whichin Parts

they contain, are discussed

HI and

IV.

In Part II

the separate lives contained in these volumes are dealt with

and an attempt

is

made

to determine the relation of these lives

and Irish, and of the Irish more than one Irish Hfe of the one another, where same saint is extant. This has not, so far as I know, beento other existing lives both Latinlives to

hitherto attemptedstill

;

and as the majority of the

Irish lives are

unprinted,

I

trust that this part of

my work may

be

useful to other labourers in this field,

and may serve

to shovv

which of theseof

lives

are most worthy of attention.

Somein

them

I

may

perhaps be allowed to deal with m^self

future volumes.

But to print

Irish lives

which are mere

late

translations of existing Latin Hves can

add nothingIrish

to our

knowledge, except possibly as regards the

vocabulary

iv

PREFACEtwo and a halfI

of the last

centuries.

In order to facihtatein

comparison and research

have placed

the critical notes

dctailed references to the corresponding portions of other Hves,

whether Latin or

Irish,

where such

exist.I

In the last section of the Introductionto dctermine, with

have attempted

how much

success

my

readers must judge,

what elements

in

the Hves of Celtic Saints are derived from

thc mythology and folk-lore of the Celtic Heathenism which

preceded the introduction of Christianity.

This also has notIn this

been systematically attempted hitherto.light has, I hope,

way someItis

been thrown on the nature of that heathenism,

and yet more on the character of Celtic hagiology.indeed, asthatis it

seems to me, impossible to understand much

contained in these lives withoutI

some knowlcdgeillustrateis

of the

secular literature from which

have striven to

them.

Andit

the advantage of this method of investigationfind a

that

byex-

whole groups of miracles and legends

common

planation, whereas the w^eakness of the euhemeristic

mcthodin their

adopted,

e. g.

by Messrs. Baring-Gould and Fisheris

reccntly published Livcs of British Saints,

that a special

explanation has to be found for each separate legend, and thercsultis

as unscientific as

it

is

certainly unimaginativcthis

and

prosaic.

Moreover, by means of

comparison

many

things

in these lives,

which atif

first

sight naturally cause offcnce, find

an explanation,avail themselves.

not an cxcuse, of which thoscCeltic saints

who

are

jealous for the honour of the

may

be glad to

The needis

for thisit

comparison with the sccular traditionsis

one reason why

dcsirable that editors, even of Latin

lives of Irish saints,

should have some acquaintance with the

native language and literature.

Other reasons are the occur-

rence in these lives of Irish words and phrases, and of Latincxprcssions which can only bc explained

by

referencc to Irish

;

and the intricacy of

Irish

nomenclature both personal and

PREFACElocal.

Vin

These subjects are dealt withIn the Indcx LocorumfirstI

the

Indices

and

Glossary.

have,

I believe, identified

several places for the

time.local

But morc could probably be

done by persons havingpretcnd.

knowledge to which

I

cannot

The

foundations of Irish topographical science vvere;

iaid for all

time by John 0'Donovanlaid

others can only build

upon the foundations

by him.

But whatever may be thought of my own contributions to these volumes, I trust I have at any rate provided studentswith reliable texts on which they can work with confidence.ItI

is

a satisfaction to

me

to think that in the present

work

have done something towards carrying out the great design

at

which Colgan and

his associates laboured with

such pathetic(see p. x,

fidelity

amid the storms of the seventeenth century;

note 3) though they would, of the critical theories whichsitions.

I I

fear,

have gravely disapproved

have applied to these compo-

Perhaps

I

may

also be allowed to

pay the

tribute of

my

reverent admiration for the labours of a later worker infield,: '

the same

Dr. William Reeves, sometime Bishop of

Down

and ConnorIt

Gigantes erant super terram in diebus

illis.'

only remains for

me

toI

add

my

acknowledgements of thein

many

kindnesses which

have receivcd

connexion with

these volumes.Press for their

I would thank the Delegates of the Clarendon liberality in undertaking a work which can;

hardly appeal to more than a limited number of studentsI

and

would thank thefor the skill

ment

ofiicials and and patience with which they have executed

printers of that grcat establish-

a rather complicated task.

To

the authorities of the Bodleian

Library in Oxford, of the Bibliotheque Royale in Brussels, of the Royal Irish Academy, of the Franciscan Convent, of theKing's Inns Library, of Trinity College, and Primate Marsh's

Librarytheir

in

Dublin,

I

am

indebted for unrestricted access to

manuscript treasures, and for unfailing courtesy and

considcration.

The

authorities of the

two last-named

libraries

vi

PREFACEmanuscripts to be

further allovvcd photographs of certain

taken for

my

use.I

College, Oxford,

To the Provost and Fellows of Queen's am once more indebted for an even

larger use of their valuable library than that which they soliberally allow to all graduates of the University.late

To

the

Mr. Whitley Stokes

I

am

indebted

forJ.

the loan ofG. CKeefife,

several photographs of Irish

MSS., while Mr.

thoughailowed

at

the time personallyto

unknown

to me, generously

me

make

use

of

some

transcripts which he

made

of certain Irish lives of Saints.

To

Sir

had John Rhys

and Professor Heinrich Zimmertheir

myin

thanks are due, not

only for the stimulus of their pubhshed works, but also forpersonalinstructions,

whichI

ycars

gone by

first

initiated

me

into Celtic studies.

trust that they

maycare

find

these

volumes

not

altogether

unvvorthy of the

and

pains which they once bestowed upon their pupil, the editor.

CoRPUs Christi College, OXFORD. January 27, 1910.

CONTENTS OFEditor's Preface

VOL.

I

PAGEiii

Introduction Part I. The Manuscripts ix Part II. The Separate Lives xxiii Ixxxix Part III. CoMPOsiTioN AND Character of the Lives Part IV. The Contents of the Lives xcv Heathen Folk-lore and Mythology in the Part V..

LivES OF Celtic SaintsLiST OF Abbreviations and of

......

cxxixclxxxix

Works

cited

.

Vita sancti Abbani,,

,,

,,

' '

Aedi Albei Barri Berachi

3 34 46

6575 87

BOECII PRIMA SANCTI BrENDANI SANCTI CaINNICI

98I52

Carthagi sive MochutuClARANI DE ClUAIN ClARANI DE SaIGIR

170

,,

200217

,,

',,

COEMGENI COLMANI DE LaND ElO* Hitherto unpublished.

234 258

CONTENTS OFVlTA SANCTI COMGALLI * CrONANI ,, Declani ,, Endei ,,

VOL.

II

PAGE3 22

32

*

Fechini FlNANI DE CeNN EtIGH Fintani

...

6076 87 96107 116 131141

,,

Geraldi

*

sancte Ite sancti Lasriani sev Molaissi

*,,

Maedoc mochoemog MocHUA DE Tech MochuaMOLING

164 184

* *

Moluae MunnuRuadani

(sev Lugidi)

190 206 226 240 253 262

SANCTE SaMTHANNE SANCTI TlGERNACI

Appendix I *ViTA secvnda sancti Brendani *De sancto Brendano versvs satiri Appendix II Vita sancti Aidvi sive Maedoc Explanation of the Indexes Index Locorvm Index Nominvm

270ci

293 295 312

313344371

Index Rervm

Glossary A. Latin:

381

B. IrishAddenda et Corrigenda* Ilitherto

385 389unpublished.

INTRODUCTIONPARTI.

I.

THE MANUSCRIPTSlives

Apart from single

which may be found

in various

MSS.,

three great collections of Latin Lives of Irish Saints areto

knownat

me.

The

first

of these

is

contained in a

MS.

of the

Royal Library

Brussels numbered 7672-4, and commonly knovvn as Codex Salmanticensis froni the fact that it once belonged to the Irish CoIIege at

Salamanca (S). The second is contained in two sister MSS., of which one, marked V. 3. 4, is in Primate Marsh's Library, Dublin (M) the other is in Trinity CoIIege, Dublin, marked E. 3. 11, and numbered 175 in Dr. Abbotfs Catalogue (T). The third is contained in two Rawlinson MSS. in the Bodleian, Rawl. B. 485 (Ri), and 505 (R-) of which the latter, as will be shown hereafter, is a copy of the former '. S has already been published in extenso' by the liberality of the late Marquess of Bute under the editorship ofthe BoIIandist Fathers, De Smedt and De Backer', and therefore none of the lives printed in the present work are taken from that MS. Still less have I;;

iised ' an old vellum book' containing lives of saints, apparently in 400. but I cannot identify it with any of the above collections. In Brussels MS. 2324 f. 12 v" there is an Irish note by Michael OCIery stating that Simon Bearnaval [Barnewall] near Kells had a collection of Latin lives of the following saints among others Patrick, Cronan, abbot, of the race of Dathi [? Mart. Don. Feb. 20], Finntan, bishop [? of Dunbleisc, Jan. 3], Finntan, priest, of the race of Conall Gulban [= Munnu], Mide [= Ita], Ebbeus episcopus ^1. e. Ailbe], Diarmaid, Brendan f? of Birr or of Clonfert], Cronan [? of Roscrea]. - As a rule the MS. is cited as S, and the edition as C S. ' Acta Sanctorum Hiberniae ex Codice Salmanticensi . . . opera Caroli de Smedt et losephi de Backer e soc. lesu, . sumptus largiente loanne Patricio Marchione Bothae, 1888. The edition is farfromperfect it suffers from the fact tbat the editors have no acquaintance with the Irish language, a knowledge of which is absolutely necessary foran editor even of Latin lives of Irish saints. The work was severely criticized by Zimmer in Gott. gelehrte Anzeigen, March, Still, it is not diificult for an Irish scholar to correct the mistakes of the 1891. editors, and with all its shortcomings the edition does make the MS. available for students of Irish matters in a convenient form. But for greater security every passage quoted from S in the critical notes, and nearly every passage quoted in the Introduction to the present work, has been collated with the MS.*

Keatingii.

Latin,

:

.

.

;

X

INTRODUCTION

thought it necessary to print lives which, as is the case with some of those contained in R' and R^ are mere duplicates or epitomes of iives contained in S. Other lives of the same saints are admitted for the various lives form what Pfere Delehaye has well called the; '

dossier of a saintinstructive.

' '

;

and a comparison of them

is

often

most

For the other two coliections nothing analogous has been done. of the lives contained in them have never been printed at all. Those that have been printed are either scattered up and down the great Boliandist Coliection, or are only to be found in rare works like Colgan's Acta Sanctorum ' and Trias Thauniaturga ', or FIeming's

Many

''

Les Legendes hagiographiques, par Hippolyte Delehaye,Saint.'

S. J.,

1905

;

chap.

v,

Le Dossier d'un*

Louanii, foi. mdcxlv. ibidem, fol. mdcxlvii. The Trias is composed of SS. Patrick, Brigit, and Columba. In the A. S. the Lives are arranged according to tlie order nf the saints' days in the calendar. But Colgan only lived to complete a quarter of his task, the A. S. containing the saints belonging to the first three months of the year. The scheme of Colgan and his associates embraced much more than the Lives of the Saints ; they aimed at nothing less than a complete collection of all e.xisting Irish antiquities, secular and ecclesiastical, as may be seen from the Preface to the A. S. There is, indeed, hardly to be found in the history of literature a more pathetic tale than that of the way in which Colgan and his fellow workers (who are enumerated in the same Preface) strove, amid poverty, and persecution, and exiie, to save the remains of their country's antiquities from destruction. In Rawl. B. 487 f 68 is a very interesting draft of their scheme 'Catalogus eorum quae habemus partim parata partim paranda ad praelium (sic).' At the head of this stands Vitae sanctorum Hibemiae qui floiuerunt intra uel extra patriam illustratae Commentariis in quibus omnes occurrentes in eis diHicultates explicantur.' Then, after mentioning other items of their programme, the writer adds Haec omnia sunt pene parata ad praelum, si adessent necessarii sumptus uel modus dandi cautionem impressori de 300 exemplaribus comparandis per cum qui daret cautionem.' At f. 74 there is the following note Paucas habemus nostrorum sanctorum uitas ex patria latine scriptas, sed longe multas [? plures] ex aliis regionibus, eorum nerape qui intcr exteros floruerunt. Vnde desideramus omnem uitam alicuius nostratis sancti qui in patria haberi possit praeter sequentes quas ex patria missas habemus.' Then follows an alphabetical hst of forty-three Lalin lives, of whicli all except three are to be found in M T, S, or R ; and many of them in more than one recension. Then follows a list of cleven fragmentary lives, ' unde eas integras desideramus.' Of these lives all but four are to be found in S or R, or both. And all thc lives in both lists which come within the scope of Colgan's two volumes are there printed by him. In a portfolio of unbound papers in the Library of the I.^ubhn Franciscans is a ' Catalogus Actuum Sanctorum quae habentur ordine Mensium et Dierum ', from April to December. This list is evidcnlly a draft schcme for Colgan's rcmaining volumes of A. S.; the first three months of the year having been already provided for. This list was printcd by Reeves in Proc. R. I. A. vii. 372-3. On f. 74 v of the Rawhnson MS. is a list of thirty-nine Irish Lives of Saints, headed Accso na bcthada fuaramar as ar ttir', i. e. these are the lives which we have got from our country after wliich follows a lisl of ihirty-one Irish saints, headed Agso drong oirdeirc do naomhaibh ar ttirc nach liuaramar a m-bethada 7 atamaid d'iarraid, mas cidir ', i.e. here is a distinguished company of saints of our country whose lives we have not got ; and we are trying to get'' ' : : ' . . .:

'

:

'

MS

'

;

'

;

;

THE MANUSCRIPTS

xi

Collectanea Sacra '. One or two have been printed separately -. The object of the present vvork is to malce availablc for students of

Hagioiogy the materials contained in MT and R'. is only used for the purpose of comparison a brief description It is a folio volume measuring 33 cm. bya^; written will suffice. It consists in double colunins by a scribe of the fourteenth century. at present of a hundred and seventy-five leaves, but several leaves have been lost*, and othcrs have been misbound. The only scribal note vvhich throvvs any light on the history of the MS. is at the end 'Bennact Cuana agus noem of the Life of S. Cuanna on f. 219'Irish

As S

:

daroni a cattachi.

fris

ar awimaiw

inti

tuc a gaedailchErgallia,'i.

i

1-ladin in bethusa.

fratris

lohannis

Cuanna and thesoul of the

Mac Kern de saints who made

e.

the blessings of

their covenant with

him on thei.

man who translated this life from Gaelic into Latin, e. Brother John Mac Kernan (?) (= Mac Tiernan or Mac Tighearnain) Anima of Oriel. To which a later hand has added on the margin' :

quoque

fratris

Dermicii

I

Dhunchadha

(i.

e.

Dermot 0'Donohoe)

requiescat in pace.

Amen.'

are certainly sister MSS., i. e. both copied from the same They are both original, but neither of them copied from the other.'

M

and

T

if possible. Many students will have re-echoed the lament of the Bolmerito cum maiorilandist editor of the life of Declan (A. S. July v. 597" bus doleo non uulgari tandem aliquando A. S. Hiberniae, a Colgano olim per tres tantummodo menses typis commissa, cum cetera promissa sint toties, tantoque opere ab eius magistris per totara Hiberniam conquisita.' This was written in 1727. ' Fleming's tragical death is described in the Louanii mdclxxvii. fol. Preface to Colgan's A. S. The work was published after his death by Thomas

them,

i

:

'

i. e. 0'Sheerin. * e. g. the lives of Bairre of Cork, by Rich. Caulfield, 1864 the S life of Cainnech, by the Marquess of Ormonde, 1853. ' With the exception of the documents printed in the Appendices, all the lives in the present collection are taken from M T or R. * The fohation begins with f. 48, so that, apart from other mutilations, fortyseven leaves have been lost at the beginning. ^ Very incorrectly printed CS. col. 937-8. ^ That they must be copied from the same original is proved by the numerous rainute points in which they agree (a) common errors, e. g. stilam /or stilum, Ab. 10; pariatura terra /or per hiatura terre, Aed 35; Exhach /or Echach, Ba. 2 Roraam /or Roma, bis ib. 7 se ridentera /or stridentem, Car. 32 ; scandentes/or scatentes. ib. 51 demeritate/or teraeritate, Com. 34; frustra /or frusta, Decl. 25 debitoribus /or crtditoribus, Fin. C. 17 indesperatus /or inde separatus, Mochoem. 17; pater/or frater, ib. 22; profundiosi, ib. habentes sanctura acceperunt/or habitum sanctura accipientes, Rua. 15 30 ad finem. (b) Spelling, e. g. cepta /ot septa, Co. E. 9 cella /or sella, Com. arcx, Mochoem. 20. (f) Common omissions, e. g. aemulatores, Ab. 10 34 shorter ones in Com. et ait, Car. J 21 in Co. E. 10 a long clause is omitted In some cases M has inserted the missing word above the line, 44, Decl. 23. e. g. Dei, Aed 5 27 In these cases the word in the eum, Fin. C. 24, &c. original MS. may have occupied a position in which it was liable to be overlooked. (d) Common erroneous insertions, e. g. est, Car. 31, et, ib. 37 ; mortem eius, Com. 57 [or it may be that these words should be retained, and

Sirinus,

;

:

;

;

;

;

;

;

;

;

;

;

;

Xll

INTRODUCTIONvolumes writtenin

folio

ance, the columns in

T

double columns and very similar in appearbeing rather broader, and the handwriting

rather more compressed and upright. T is assigned to the fifteenth century in Dr. Abbott's Catalogue. is an exact contemporary '. Both MSS. probably contained the same collection of lives originally, but both are mutilated. The following table shows the arrangement of the lives in the two MSS. as they exist at present. The titles are given in the order of

M

M, thethat theit is

figures in the right-handarticle in

column indicate the position of thea

correspondinglife in

T.is

A dagger suffixed to

number

indicates

that

MS.

incomplete, a double dagger indicates that

a

mere fragment.

M

THE MANUSCRIPTS

xiii

From this it woiild appear that the arrangenicnt of the lives in the two MSS. was probably the sanie, with the exception that T inserts tlie two foreign saints, Antony and Louis of Toulouse, in the body of his MS., whereas M removed them to the beginning, for the close resemblance between the two MSS. makes it probable that the life ofSt.

Louis was containedfact that bothit

The

Francis makes

in the missing part at the beginning of M. these foreign Saints belonged to the order of St. possible, as Reeves suggested, that the original of

bclonged to some Franciscan house. In the present work all the above lives are included except these two foreign saints, SS.Laurence and Malachy (excluded on chronological grounds), Flannan (as being too fragmentary), Columba, whose life is a copy of Adamnan's well-known work, used by Reeves in his monumental edition, and called by him Codex D, and Brendan, whose life according to this recension was included in Cardinal Moran's Acta S. Brendani. Happily the two MSS. largely supplement each other'sdeficiencies.

MT

From the above table it will be seen that the only life which has been lost is that of Flannan the life of Carthach (Mochuda) is incomplete in both MSS., but by combining the two texts the whole can be recovered with the exception of a few lines (v. infra i. 192, 196 notes). T has suffered the worse damage of the two and therefore M has, as a rule, been taken as the basis of the printed text. Only three lives, Ailbe, Carthach (or Mochuda), and Declan, have been taken from T, though it has of course been collated wherever available. M measures 35 cm. by 23^ cm. The last folio (which is an inserted slip) is marked f 159 in the old foliation, but there are two folios numbered 135, so that originally the MS. contained 160 ft"., but 32 ff. have been lost at the beginning, and four in other places. T measures 33 cm. by 25 cm. The first part of the MS. contains a fragment of some chronicle. The lives begin on f. 28 of the original foliation, and this foliation shows that no less than^o ff. have been lost in the body of the MS., besides an uncertain number at the end '. M is almost certainly the MS. which Colgan used and calls Codex Kilkenniensls. Reeves denied this, but I think on insufiRcient grounds -. It is quite certainly the MS. used by Fleming in his;;

Probably about nineteen, to judge from the correspondint; portions of M. Proc. R, I. A. u. s. Adamnan, p. xxvi v. inf. ii. 96, 100 notes cf. also owing to 177 note (Mochoem. 24), where a sentence, omitted by homoioteleuton, is wanting also in Colgan and the same is the case ib. 34 cf. Z. C. P. V. 454. The lives of the M T recension printed in Coigan's Acta Sanctorum are Abban, p. 610; Aed mac Bric. p. 418; Ciaran of Saigir, Finlan of Clonenagh, p. 349 Maedoc. p. 208 Mochoemoc, Ita, p. 66 p. 458 Of these, all except the first two are novv lost or p. 589; Senan, p. 512. mutilated in T. Colgan's statement that Cod. Kilk. contained a life of David,'

-

;

;

;

ii.

M

:

;

:

;

;

;

;

xiv

INTRODUCTION

Collectanea Sacra, and called by him Codex Ardmachanus. This was very ingeniously proved by Reeves'. I cannot discover in the MS. itself any ground for either of the names given to it by Colgan

and Fleming' respectively. The former has been more commonly adopted. Reeves thought the latter more appropriate, though he does not give any reason for his opinion. Both M and T were used by Ussher in his Britannicarum Ecclesiarum Antiquitates*, and it is probable that the numerous seventeenthcentury annotations on the margins of both MSS. are from his hand. Ware also had saints' lives of the MT recension. In Chapter XIII of his work on Irish Writers he gives a list of saints' lives with their'incipits'.

Of

these,

ten certainly belong toto

the

MT

recension

:

and the MS. used by

Ware would seem;

have been our

M

".

ib. p. 430, is probably a slip portions of M.';

though the

life

may have occurred

in

the lost

u. s. 11. 9 note. 2 Vitam [Maidoci] hic damus ex Minorum Kill Canniae,' Colgan, A. S. moci damus ex peruetusto illo codice

V. inf.

*

uetustis raembranisp. 215''. . ;

conuentu^ Fratrum'

.

596", Vitam MochoeFratrum Minorum Kilkeniae.'cf. ib. p.;

Fleming printed from M the lives of Comgall, p. 303 Mo!ua, p. 368 and and gave extracts from those of Coemgen, Cainnech, p. 381 Carthach, and Munnu, pp. 313-15. His texts are far superior to those of';

Mochoemog,

;

Colgan.cite the edition in vol. vi of Ussher's CoUected Works. Of course, in cases it is impossible to say from vi^hich of the two MSS. Ussher took where the source is fairly certain I have added an M or T in his quotations brackets; M* or T* denotes that the passage cited only exists uow in the one but the MSS. may have been less mutilated in of the MSS. so indicated Ussher's time than they are at present. The following lives are citcd by Ussher Abban g = pp. 348, 429 f. (T) ; Aed 3 = P- 534 ; 3' = P- 382 ; Ailbe 5 I, 2 = P- 333 (M) ; 8 = p. 342 13 = pp. 342-3 (M) ; 16 = p. 346 ; 19 = pp. 432-3 ; 20-22 = pp. 346-7, 427 : 25 ^ p. 428 ; Carthach 59, 61 - pp. 475, 532 (M*) ; 65 = pp. 510-11 (T*) ; Coemgen (M*) i, 4, 28 = pp. 524-5, 527 ; Comgall 13 = p. 475 ; 50 = p. 527 Cronan 16-17 = P- 541 (T) Declan i = p. 333 (T*) 3-9 = pp. 334-5 9* = pp. 343-4 ; 21 = pp. 427-8 ; Maedoc 8 = p. 532 ; I 12 = p. 347 (M) ; 18 = p. 355 Mochoemog 4 = p. 472; Molua 28, 47 = pp. 484, 511 ; Munnu 26-7 = PP. 503-5 (T) Ruadan i = p. 472 25 = p. 529. ' The incipits of the following lives cited by Ware are in M T Finan, Carlhach, Ciaran of Saigir, Ailbe ; the following are now only in M Ccemgen, Moling, Mochoemoc, Cainnech. In the case of Cronan (MT) and Munnu ^M*) the incipits are the same as those of the S recension, but I have discovered no In the case of Senan evidence that Ware was acquainted with the S recension. the incipit is the samc in MS. R. But it is the case of Declan which makes it practically certain that M was Ware's MS. ; for he notes that the 'incipit'of the life is wanting, and he therefore gives the ' cxplicit instead. Declan's life At the same time it is curious that Ware is 'acephalus' in M, but not in T. has not cited more of the lives contained in M. Of thc life of Abban Ware says * the bcginning is wanting in nty Notgs\ This probably rcfers only to some accidental loss or omission by Ware. It is not true cither of M or T. I have found nothing bearing on the history or ownership of eithor MS. before it reachcd its prt-scnt placc of deposit except the single entry in T, f. 109'': Johnc Dillon, his booke. God make him a go^^od man] ; cf. infra, p. xx.'I

many

;

;

:

;

;

;

;

;

;

;

:

:

'

'

'

THE MANUSCRIPTSIt

XV

follows next to consider the two MSS., R' and R', which contain

These two the third coilcction of lives'. related, but the relationship between themasister,

MSS.

are also closely

many

R^ is not but a daughter of R'. Their close relationship appears in ways. Though both are mutilated to some extent, it is evidentis different.

that both contained

when complete

the

same

collection of lives.

And

although in some cases (e.g. Coluinba, Brendan of Clonfert, and Finnian of Clonard) that recension is highly individual. The order of the lives in the two MSS. is very different, but this is due to the fact that in R' the lives have been rearranged in the order of the calendar for the convenience of reading in choir or in refectory. The following tableis

the recension of the various lives

in both

MSS.

identical,

shows the relationship of the two MSS. as to their contents. The column gives the lives in the order of R', the second the date of each saint's festival in the Calendar; the third column gives thefirst

order of the lives in R', while the fourth gives their order in F, which, as I shall show presently, is the seventeenth-century transcript of the greater part of R' used by Colgan for his Acta Sanctorum. As before, a dagger indicates that the life is imperfect in the MS. so

markedR'

:

XVI

INTRODUCTIONR'

THE MANUSCRIPTSOfordcr of R') are included17, 18, 19, 29, 39.

xvii

the lives enumeratcd in the above table the foUowing (in thein the

The

following

vohimes, Nos. i, 2, 7, 10, 22. identical with lives contained in C S, Nos. 3, 5, 6, 21, 30, 34, 35, 37, 38 (No. 19 would have been excluded under this rule, but it is The following are excluded because lives of the imperfect in S). same saints are here given from the M T recension but in all these cases the R version has been carefully compared, and anything of importance which it contains is given in the critical notes Nos. [5],;:

prescnt work, Nos. 9, 11, 13, 15, 16, outside the scope of the present The following are omitted as beinglie

12, 14, 20, [21], 23, 24, 26, 27, 28.

[30], 31, 33, 34, 36, [37, 38].

The

bracketed numbers had already been excluded on other grounds. Of the remaining four lives, No. 4 (Fursa) is practically identical with that in C S, though the phrasing differs a little No. 25 (Columba of;

except by abbreviation No. 32 (Flannan) is a shorter and possibly earlier recension than that in C S, which is in the very worst hagiological manner. C S is incomplete, but it did not seem worth while to print the R versionTerryglass) hardly differs from;

C S

on

this account *. No. 8 (Finnian of Clonard) difTers from C S mainly by way of abbreviation but the author of the recension has incorporated a shortened form of the tract De tribus ordinibus sanctorum Hiberniae,' which occurs separately in C S and elsewhere^ He has also inserted an account of Finnian's reception of the last sacraments at the hand of Columba of Terryglass, which is taken from the S R life of that saint'. There are other minor differences between S and R which make it possible that R is not taken direct from S, but that both are independent abridgements of an earlier life*. But besides these general points of resemblance between R' and R'', the two MSS. agree in the most minute points, often in the most obvious mistakes '. These, however, might only prove, as in the case; ':

^ The following summary of the missing part will suffice to show its worthless character Flannan and his companions land on the coast of Gattl, The king of the Frmiks was at war with the king of Burgundy. The only son of the king of Gaiil had lost an arm. Flannan heals him. The fame of the cure . of the king of Fraiice spread through the whole Roman Empire, and made F.'s way plain. The pope, John, goes out to meet him. He btays a year at Rome, and receives from the pope 'sacros ordines, pontificalem infulam, et licentiam predicandi' . He sets out on his return. Fourteen leprous monks ask to join him. (Here C S resumes after the lacuna.) R' f. 159, R- f. 164. ^ Fleming, u. s. p. 431", notices tbis insertion. ' C S cc. 457-8. For another instance of R's incorporating additional matter sce i. 223, note 4. * That S is in this case an abridgement of an earlier life is shown by 5, 12;.

.

.

(C S^

cc. 192, 196).

e. g.

prebeat/or prebebat,

ignorantiam ybr ignominiam, i. 43 note cuIpa/o>- lupa, i. 65 note i. 78; benedictionem ybr -onis, i. 98; regiorum/or regio;;

xvili

INTRODUCTION

'

and T, derivation from a common original. But the fact fliat of the peculiarities of R' can only be explained as misunderstandings of the text of R} make it practically certain that R' is a The commonest form of error is a wrong direct copy of R'. expansion of the contractions with which R' abounds*. But, curiously enough, the most conclusive evidence that R' is copied from R' is furnished by a Jife which now no longer exists in R', viz. the life of Boetius or Buite. This is obviously imperfect in R"; it ends in the middle of a sentence panem latum preparauit, et butiro superficicm eius,' i. 97. It is not mutilated in R", and on the verj' next lineof

M

many

'

:

another

life

begins

:

'

Incipit

uita Sci.

Finniani de

Cluain Yrard."

Now

the table of contents of R'

shows

that the life of Boetius

was the

last in

the volume.

Evidcntly therefore

when R- was

copied, R' had

page had become so abraded from being the outside of the MS. as to be illegible'. In the Library of the Franciscan Convent at Dublin is a paper MS.lost the last leaf, or at the least the last

containing thirty-three lives of saints of the'

R

recension'.

The

colophon * shows that it was copied in 1627 by John Goolde, Warden of the Franciscan Convent of Cashel ex authentico transumpto uetustissimi manuscripti pertinentis ad Inis na naom supcr Loch Rij(Saints' Island in

Lough Ree).

It is

practically certain that

F

is

a

copy of R''. It shows the same imperfection in the life of Boetius, and the most minute agreement in smaller points. Any differenccs between the two I regard as being due only to the error or capriceof the scribe, or tooriginal'^,

his attempts

to

correct the niistakes of hisIt is

or his;

own misrcadings;

of that original".

equally clear:

duxistis/oj- dimisistis, i. 106; apertus /ur aptus, i. 112 desperauit i. 214 note chornata /or ornata, ii. 68; licentia_/br lclitia, ii. 266; /or pergente, ib. hostiam /or hastam, ii. 245 note ocuM /or olim, progcnle Common omissions, e. g. ii. 67 Corbanus autem ii. 264 rege) ii. 266 note. ii. 134 (a uhole iine omittedi. Wrong insertions, ii. 68 !cnim"i ii. 139 in). ' Tliis character of R', combined vvith its non-calendarian arrangement, would roakc it an inconvcnient book for reading aloud. Ahnost every column of Raffords instanccs of the statcraent in the text. 1 give a few examples orationibus yb- omnibus, i. IiB; habitum dantes/or habundantcs, i. 127; aliquod /or aliud, popularem yo;- papalem, ii. 71 corruptum /or i. 131 (tliis occurs frequcntlyi corporum, ii. 132; declinationcm/brdemonem, ii. 265. R- also ignores lacunae in K' and copies straight ahead, e. g. 1. 84, 85 notes. ^ This fact inter alia provcs that R' is a good deal older than R'. ^ Sec the table given above, pp. xv, xvi. I call this transcript F. * Printcd in full, Z. C. P. v. 452-3. ' Tliis bcing the case 1 have not thought it necessary to give the readings of F except where thcy secmed of interest as illustrating the origin of cditions e. g. Beracli. nda, of any of these livcs printed in Colgan or in the A. S. Fechin, Mochua, Tigernach. The notes to Ihcse lives will lurnish on cvcry page proot' of tlic stalements madc above, e. g. Ber. 3, 19 21, 23. Wliere F agrees with R' against R^, tliis is mcrely duc to thc fact that the true reading was easily recoverable by conjccture. ' Thus in Ber. 15 thc text has inuocato nominc Dei uiui insutSauit ini.

nem,

103

_/b/'

disparuit,

;

;

1

>

;

'

;

1

;

;

;

1

;

:

'

THE MANUSCRIPTSthat

xix

F

is

the transcript used by Colgan in the preparation of those

R recension which he editcd, or intended to edit, in his Acta Sanctorum ^ Several of the lives have chapter divisions and marginal notes, and these, as Reeves suggested ^ may very lilcely be from Colgan's hand. R' is a smali folio, size 23cm. X i4cm., written in double columns, and, as I have said, in a very contracted hand. It contains now i6o ff. How much is lost at the end it is impossible to tell exactly, In the body of the MS. we can but probablj' twcnty-four ff.' show from the ancient pagination and foliation that nineteen leaves have been lost. The gatherings are for the most part in twelves, though some have been interfered with by mutilation and other causes. It contains some very interesting marginalia '. It R' is a large folio, size 37 cm. x 25-7 cm. in double columns. consists at present of 221 ff.', including ten leaves at the end whichlives of the

eam'

'

[sc.'

niiiem]

;

F misreads

'uiui' as

'

niui

',

then alters

it

to 'niuem',

and

omits

in

eam

*.

The close conformity of CoIgan's text with that of F may be easily seen by reference to the lives cited in the last note but one. The lives actually printed by Colgan from the R recension are Berach, A. S., p. 340; Enda, p. 704; Fechin, p 130 ; Gerald, p. 599 ; and he cites or alludes to, thouf h he does not print, the following lives of the same recension Ita, Flannan, Maedoc, Fintan, Finnian, David, Ciaran of Saigir, Aed mac Bric, Brendan, Brigit (v. Z. C. P. V. 448-53 Of these David and Brigit are not in F. For David Colgan used a different MS. ;A. S. p. 425] ; of the life of Brigit he may have obtained a transcript later, as the Trias Thaumaturga came out two years after the A. S. Among the books found in Colgan's chambcr at his death was Vitae Sanctorum tx Cod. Insulensi', Gilbert, in Fourth Report on Historical MSS. p. 612". This w;is probably F. R- seems to have been less mutilated than it is novv vvhen F was copied from it. The only serious difficulty in the way of the above theory is this. Colgan's edition of the life of Enda is incomplete at the beginning * caput unum uel alterum inter schedas nostras est casu deperditum,' A. S. p. 710^* cf. ib. p. 43'': 'reliquas notas in hanc uitam [Molibba] uideat lector in addendis.' They do not seem to be there, so probably they were never recoveredl. But in F the life of Enda is quite complete. Perhaps the transcript was itself transcribed for press, and the first leaf of the copy may have been mislaid. For the soiution of an apparent ditBculty as to the fragment of the life of Attracta printed by Colgan. A. S. p. 278, see Z. C. P. v. 451-3. As Colgan e.xpressly says, ib. p. 710", that the Codex Insulae omnium Sanctorum was a codex membraneus ', it is clear that he does not give that title to F, as js sometimes loosely done, but to the MS. from vvhich it was transcribed. ^ Proc. R. I. A. vii. 372. ' The lives novv wanting in R' occupy about 18 ff. in R^. Although the page of R' is so much smaller than that of R", it holds nearly as much, ovving to the contracted liand in which R' is writtcn. must also allow a little for the fact that as shown above, p. xviii) tlie life of Buite was already mutilated at the end when K' vvas copied. gatherings of R' are mostly in twelves, As the we may suppose that two gatherings of twclve leaves have been lost. * The most important of these are printed Z. C. P. v. 444-6, and need not be reprinted here. ' The foliation only shovvs 220 ff., but there are tv\-o ff. numbered 85 a and 85 b respectively.:

!.

'

;

',

'

'

'

We

ba

XX

INTRODUCTIONwas bound up with thesaints'in

contain a copy of Aengus' Fdlire, whichlives

the sixteenth

or seventeenth century.

The

gatherings,

allowing for leaves lost by mutilation, are nearly all in eights. At the head of the hves a space is often left vacant for the sainfs pedigree, which in some cases has been added sometimes bj' a nearly contemporary, sometimes by a much later hand. The scribe is fond of adding at the end of the lives 'cuius meritis deleatur culpa; :

scriptoris

'

'.

In one instance, the

life

of Fursa, he has given his

nameR"

' :

cuius meritis deleatur culpa Mathei

Y

Duibyr.

Amen

'.

But ofalsothat

this

Matthew 0'Dwyer I have, unfortunately, found nothing. contains a large number of interesting entries^ The fact

one of these entries is the obit of a prior of Saints' Island* strongly confirms the view that R' is CoIgan's Codex Insulensis^,Inisensis^ Codex Insulae Sanctorum', Codex Lochriuensis*.

history of R' and R^ has been throughout closely connected. R- belonged, as there is reason to believe, to the monastery of Saints" Island in Lough Ree, it is probable that R' belonged there also, and that R^ vvas intended to supersede R' as a lectionary. InIf

The

both

MSS.

are entries relating to the Dillon family

.

In the sixteenth

and seventeenth centuries R' seems to have been in the possession of therelated families of 0'FarreII'" and Moriarty, the formerofwhom may have acquired it from theirkinsman the prior of Saints' Island".

' '

i-

note on the margin of f. 5 r calls attention to this : ' Matheus O Duibidir, ffar sg>'tobtha an leaba;V so m;- ata and 7 het/ia Fursa,' i.e. Matthevv CDwyer, the scribe of this book, as it stands here, and vafi the hfe of Fursa. A variation of the phrase occurs at the end of the life of Aed mac Bricc, where we find cuius mcritis deleatur dolor capitis scriptoris huius uite,' i. 45. The reason for this no doubt is that in the body of the life is narrated how St. Aed took'

A

i5i> 273

;

'- 21. 75. 63, if^9. 252. 269.

upon5

liimself the

headache of a man who sufTered intolerably from

tliat

com-

plaint,*

Hence no doubt he was

the special refuge of simiiar sufferers.

Z. C. P. V. 447-8. Obitus Flerdy ffili Nimee y Ffergaill, qui fuit prior in Insula Sanctorum, Anno Dni. isiiij (1504 1 or, to give him his Irish name en toutes lettres Flaithbertach mac Conmidhe ui Fergaill, prior of Oilen or Inis na naemh, Saints' Island, in Lough Ree.

'

'

'

Aib.

S. pp. 346", 353'', 422", 430, ^63'', 599, 723".

130.

ib. 71, 215'',

216", 397", 422", 704, 710"

(omnium Sanctorum,

ib.

34"

;

Tr. Th.

p. 526). > A. S. p.'

397\

One

of

whom;

at to

one time also owned T; see above,

p. xiv.

'"

There seems

be an entry relating to the death of an 0'FarrelI also in

R' f. 36 v" see Z. C. P. v. 445. " Z. C. P. V. 443-8. The fact tliat the name of Cormac Og Moriarty occurs as owner both in the body of thc MS. and also in thc Fclire of Aengus now bound with it, makcs it possible that it was in his timc that the two parts were joinedtogether.

:

THE MANUSCRIPTS;

xxi

Both MSS. belonged to Sir James Ware ' whose arms are stamped on the binding of R'. Ware died in 1666 and both MSS. subsequently belonged to Henry Hydc, the second Earl of Clarendon, who probablyacquired them, as Dr. Macray suggested, during his Irish Viceroyalty Both found their way into the collection of the Duke of (1685-6).

Chandos, at whose sale in 1747 both were bought by Dr. Richard Rawlinson -, among whose treasures they came into the Bodleian, where they now repose. As to the date of the MSS. the experts differ. Hardj' assigns both to the fourteenth century Dr. Macray in his catalogue assigns both to the beginningof the fifteenth century, but would now put R' c. 1350'.;

of his Irish Writers Ware gives the incipits of the following recension Aed mac Bric, Ailbe, Bairre, Baithin, Berach, Boetius, Brendan, Cainnech, Ciaran of Cluain, Ciaran of Saigir, Coemgen, Colman of Dromore, Colman Ela, Columba of Tir da glas, Comgall, Enda, Fechin, Finan, Finnian, Fintan, Flannan, Maedoc, Mochua, Molaisse, Moling, Molua, Ruadan, Samthann, Tigemach. (Eleven of these lives have the same incipit in S, but there is no reason to suppose that Ware knew that MS.) For his account of these hves Ware clearly used R^, for in a volume of his Collectanea in the British Museum i.Cod. Clar. 39 = MS. Add. 4788) there are extracts from saints' lives clearly made from R'; for Ware has copicd in extenso the life of Boetlus as it exists in R-, noting its deficiency he further notes ad finem MS. de vitis sanctorurn habetur Calendarium Hibernlce.' This is the Felire of Aengus which now, as we have seen, forms part of R^. In his extracts Ware also cites the R lives of Gerald and Ita, which he has accidentally omitted in his printed work. Moreover three of the above lives, Ailbe, Boetius, and Ita, do not now exist in R', and as R' has Ware's arms stamped on the binding, it must have been as incomplete then as it is novv. Ware has also copied some of the obits from R-. Ware follows the mistake of R' and R^ in calling Mochua Mochua of Balla, though the life clearly belongs to Mochua of Timahoe. Colgan was more cautious. In F the word Balla is crossed out, and a marginal note is added sed hic est alius ab illo Ballensi.' Ussher also used the R recension, though less frequently than M T. The beginning of the life of Enda is alluded to by him, Works, vi. 533 Fechin 5 i, the life of Colman of Dromore (R' f. 50", R- f. 210" 3, 10, 12, 22 = ib. p. 538 = C S cols. 827-9 I, 3, 4; is cited ib. p. 529 (here Ussher's text is nearer S than R, and at p. 475 he cites the S life of Mochuda (Carthach) as alius scriptor') the R text of Ciaran of Cluain is certainly cited ib. p. 525, for Ussher has the false reading sylua (R; for insula (S), v. infra i. 207 note. The passage from the R text of Cainnech's life given in the note to Cain. 41 is cited by Ussher at p. 526. Ussher no doubt borrowed R' or R-, or both, from Ware cf. Ware's letter of Sept. 21, 1627 It is the least token of thankfulness I can show for the many favours I so often receive from your grace's hands, to let you have the view of all such old manuscripts concerning the affairs of this kingdom which corae unto me especially knowing the good useyour graveand deep judgment may make of them (Ussher's Works, xvi. 461). 2 Who apparently got them both, together with a Register of St. Mary's near Dublin, for the sum of ten and si-vpence see No. 3852 in Rawlinson's copy of the Chandos Sale Catalogue with prices affixed, now in the Bodleian. ^ Even this date (and a fortiori Mr. Madan's date for R') would be fatal to Colgan's theory that the lives of the R recension are due to the pen of Augustine Magradoigh or Magradin, a canon of Oilen na Naem or Saints' Island, one of the continuators of Tigernach, whose death, in his fifty-sixth year, is entered in the continuation of that Chronicle at the year 1405, where lives of saints are'

In chap.

xiii

lives of the

R

:

;

:

'

'

;

;

'

;

'

'

'

'

;

:

'

;

'

;

xxii

INTRODUCTIONwho mostkindly went into the qnestion at mj' request,first

Mr. Madan,

wasthe

inclined to place R' in thefirst

half of the thirteenth, and

R-

in

half of the fourteenth century.

Certainly, as

we have

seen,

some years between the two. say a few words as to the character of the three collections, S, M T, and R. The lives in S are curiously disparate in character for whereas some contain extremely primitive, not to say savagc elements ', others are late and meagre epitomes ^ while others again show the degenerate verbiage of the professional hagiologist''. The primitive characterof some of the materials used by the compiler of S is further illustrated by the early form in which many of thc Irish names of persons and places appear and by the retention of Irish words and phrases which the other recensions, as a rule, havethere must be an interval ofIt

remains

to

;

;

obliterated*.

M T represents a literary recension of earlier materials fairly evenlycarried out.

Things

likely to cause difficulty or scandal are toned

downin S.is

or omitted', and style and matter are

more homogeneous than

R

represents a

still

later

stage.

The

object of the compilerto

homiletic, 'to the use of edifying.'

His sources are nearer akin

S

than to M T. Often he retains the S text practically unaltercd. In other cases lives already evidently abbreviated in S are still furthermentioned amonge. g.,. . .

cf. 0'Curry. MS. Mat. pp. 74, 75. Colgan says, his works A. S. p. 710: saepius monuimus authorem uel coUectorem uitarum Insulensi fuisse Augustinum Magradin'; cf. ib. 602. This idea in Codice Colgan says that he tooU from Ware (ib. p. 430"). But I cannot find this in Ware. Ware says (ch. xi) that Magradin writ the Lives of the Irish Saints'. But as he places all the lives of the R rccension under Biographers of an In A. S. p. 113" uncertain age', he implies that they were not by Magradin. Colgan cites the R text of the life of Ciaran of Cluain as Magradin's without any other reference. (That it is thc R text is provcd by the false rcading 'silua' for 'insula', which Ussher also has.) ' e. g. Aed mac Bricc, Comgall, Finan of Cenn Eitigh. See the Introductions;

*

.

.

.

'

'

to these lives, infra.2

e. g.

Carthach, Ciaran of Saigir, Coemgen,Flannan, Mochulleus. lifo of Ailbe S 50;

Cronan,

Moling, Baithinc,

Macnissi, &c.' *

e. g.

43 (infra i. 61) is an Irish verse, which it has become hopelessly corrupt, in R it is the interesling word diherc S 36 is omitted both by T and R, infra i. 58. notes. There is a similar case in the life of Caiimech, S 5 45i V. infra i. 165-6, notes. Per contra in the same life 33 l S 41) the horrible practice of the Scandinavian wiltings of tossing children on the points of spears is rightly callcd pall-cheid', i. e. the foreign art, in M, whereas S reads gial-chcrd', a word meaning hostageship or obligation, and therefore quile iiiappropriale here. Again, in 39 ( = S 47') the Irish word domdelh is omittcd both by and R i. 167, notes) vvhile in 9 ( =i S 12) the Irish phrase ofwelcome is given without translation in S, with translation in M, and is omittcd altogether in R. ' Sce the Introductions to thc lives of Abban, Ailbe, Cainnech, Finan, and

In the

=

M

in

S

is fairly intelligible

in

MT

omittcd.

In the

same

life

M

'

'

M

;

Macdoc.

; '

THE MANUSCRIPTSpersons'.

xxiii

shortened, especially by the omission of names of places and The process of expurgation is carried further than in T'. The additions of R are sometinies explanations of things which might seem obscure', but by far the greater number of R's

M

insertions are due to theconsist of pious or moral

homiletic purpose of the compiler, andreflexions*,

scripture

quotations

and

paralleis, especially paralleis to those miracles vvliich

niight cause

But the compiler of R not only his materials, he also conflates them. The insertions in the life of Finnian of Clonard have already In the life of Coluniba he conflates materials vvhich been noticed . But his great achievement in this exist (in part) separately in S '. line is the life of Brendan printed in these vohimes, and here he has earned our gratitude by preserving for us materials vvhich existdifficuUy or incur disbelief^

abbreviates, expurgates, and

'

farces

'

nowhere

else

*.

PARTprinted

II.

THE SEPARATE LIVES

Vita Sancti Abbani abbatis de Magh Arnaide'. The life here is from M, f. 138'', collated for the first tvvelve sections with the sister MS., T, f 135'', the remainder being lost in T owing to Our mutilation. There is another life in S, f. 140'' (C S, cc. 505 ft"). and life vvas printed by Colgan A. S., pp. 610 ff., probably from M also by the BoIIandists, A. S., Oct. xii. 2760'., from Colgan's text;

1 ^

See Z. C. P. Thus Fin.n;

V.

440-1,;

13,

(cf. ib.

16, notes")

MT'

so

Munnu'

toned down as compared with S 16, is omitted by R 9 = S 10 is much more expurgated in R than in 19; v. notead loc. cf. Z. C. P. v. 441-2. Unfortunately, R alsoib. ; ; ;

infra, p. xciv. things of great beaut}-, i. 150, 215, notes curious instance wliere R has miscf. i. 37, note 13. Z. C. P. V. 442-3 understood the S text is given in the notes to Fintan 16. Here S reads 'in R takes this as = in reliquis sanctis, and paraphrases relitjuis sanctorum ' cum aliis qui orabant ' but M's reading, in cimiterio,' shows that ' reliquis relic ', a burying-ground. reliquiis in the sense of the Irish is for * A curious instance is cited in the notes to Ailbe 47. ^ These characteristics of R's manner may be seen in several of the lives printed in the present collection ; cf. e. g. Berach 55 9 ad fi"" 10 ^^^ ^n. ; Enda 4 ad fin., 7 ad fin., 14, 17; Fechin 8 ad fin., 14; Gerald 11 j

expurgates'

A'

;

'

;

'

'

'

Mochua

10.

' Z. C. P. v. 435-6. Above, p. xvii. ' See the Introduction to this life, and the references thcre given. ' There are pedigrees of Abban in LL. 352" L Br. 20' Rawl. B. 502 f. 51"' The Fel.- p. 228. In the Calendars he has two dates, March 16 and Oct. 27. Colgan gives his life at the latter is the date of his death, as the lives show. former date Fel., Mart. Tall., Gorman, give him at both dates Mart. Don. only The pedigrees make him son of Laignech, whereas the lives at the former. call him son of Cormac. The latter is probably due to a confusion, perhaps intentional, with his family name Mac Ui Cormaic, under which name he appear.^;

;

;

;

xxivcollated

INTRODUCTION;'

'cum codice Hibernico Dubliniensi by which is probably meant not an Irish life of Abban, but merelj' a Latin life written inIreland ^

Anyhow

the text

is

of httle value critically.

Some

of

CoIgan's errors are corrected, but others, thougii glaring, are retained,

and new ones are added.

The Sforit

text is shorter than that of

M, but cannot be derived from

it,

contains a section ( 39) which is not in M, while in 40 its version is clearly more original than that of the corresponding sectionof

M

( 45),

which has been altered so as*.

to

do away with Columba's

confession of blood-guiltinessIrish verses in 3 the hfe in 26

On;

the other hand

M

retains the

which S omits and the reference to the author of ad fineni is clearly more original than the correM sponding notice in S 21 ^ Hence S and M would seem to be independent recensions of the same original. The M text has been largely farced for homiletic purposes.' '

Thus

the

introduction is clearly a later addition.:

The'

Hfe (like

Fuit vir vite other hves) began originally with the words vencrabiHs' in 2*. The homiletic character of 10, 29, 48, 53, is obvious ; and the same atmosphere pervades more or less other parts of the work. Indeed on a first reading this homiletic motive

many

was so unpleasantly prominent,worth reprinting.this ecclesiastical

that I doubted whether the life was Further study, however, showed that underlj'ing

whitewash were features of great interest. Apart from the valuable topographical details as to the foundation of groups of churches in Munster ( 22, 23), North Leinster ( 27), and South Leinster ( 28), the mythological importance of the life is considerable. It seems clear that a cycle of stories connected with the Celtic Water-God has got attached to this saint perhaps through some vague idea that his name was connected with abann the Irish word This character comes out not merely in the incidents for river.; '

',

in theis

churches dedicated to him in Scotland, Forbes, Calendars, pp. 299 f. He invoked in the ancient Irish Litany L L. 373", L Br. 23'': Tri 1. fer graid. firriglaich [fir riaglach L Br.] cach hae, do Gaedelaib lotar n-ailithri n-oenscnud im Abban mac hiii Cormaic,' i. e. (I invoke^ the thrice fifty men in orders of the Gaels who went on pilgriraage in one company (lit. synod") with Abban. This Tlie next is evidcntly an allusion to the incidcnt related in 19 of our life. Tri 1. ailither ailc dollotar la Abban in h-Erinn di nieraib invocation is ROman 7 Letha,' i. c. thc thrice fifty other pilgrims who camc with Abban to Ireland, of tlie men of thc Romans and of Latium or Annorica]. Colgan would identify these with the hundrcd and fifty companions of Abban in 34, which is' i

i

:

'

(

less certain. ' In A. S.

May

tainly of the2 3

MT

iii. 378, the life of St. Carthach or Mochuda, vvhich is eerrecension, is said to be taken cx antiquo MS. Hibeniico'.' ;

See notes ad loc. Sce note ad loc.

and

cf.

Recves, Adamn. pp. 253

If.

The

Bollandists have rightly seen this, and brackct

tliis

and many other

passages as interpolations.

THE SEPARATE LIVESrelated ( 12, 16-19, 24, 30, 52) but in the special vvaters which is expressly attributed to the saint '.

xxvpower over the There are also

features suggestive of a solar or fire god ( 14, 34) and of the patron of vvild animals ( 7, 31, 35), these last being not impossibly connected, as in the case of the Greeic Apollo. The Neptune element is,

Where the mythological however, niuch the more prominent. element is so distinct, it is not surprising that the historical element should be correspondinglj' vague. Thus on the one hand Abban is made the son of a Cormac king of Leinster, who is probably intended for the Cormac son of Ailill, vvho died, according to the Four Masters, in 435 he is also a contemporary of St. Patrick, vvhose activity in Ireland extended, according to the traditional view, from 432 to 492 or 493', and a nephew and pupil of Bishop Ibar (+500, 50 r, or 504). On the other hand he is a contemporary of Finnian of;

Clonard (+549), Brendan of Clonfert^ (+577 or 583), Columba (+597), Gregory the Great (+604), Munnu (+635) and Moling (+697). To his biographers these dates vvould occasion no difficultj', as they give him a life of 310 or 317 years ( 17 and note). It is probable that he belongs to the sixth and seventh centuries, and that his life has been prolonged backwards by local patriotism, the process being helped by silently dropping three or four links in his pedigree*. The Bollandists suggest that the lives of tvvo Abbans have been fused together^ In a sense this is true. But it is an historical and a mythological Abban that have been combined, rather than tvvodistinct historical personages.

There

is

anIt is

Irish

life

of

Abban

occasionally cited

as

Ir.

in

the notes.

found in two MSS., viz. R.I.A. Stowe MS. No. 9, p. 205, and Brussels MS. 2324 x 2340 f. 146, both of which were probably taken from the same original ^ This contains most of the' See the notes to Even in the purely homiletic 10 the same 17, 18. character is maintained, one of the texts apphed to Abban being Apoc. xi. 5 : potestatem habent super aquas.' - The Bollandists, following Colgan, understand this to refer to that very shadowy saint, Sen-Patraic, or Old Patrick. who is commemorated at Aug. 24. ' There is appropriateness in making Abban, the water-saint, a friend of Brendan the navigator. * See above, p. xxiii, note 9. ^ One, the older saint, the traveller, the founder of the churches in Connaught and Kerry, buried at Killabban ; the other, the later saint, founder of the'

churches in Meath, Leinster, and Cork, buried at Moyamey. The two festivals are explained in the same way. A third person has also been mixed up according to their view, viz. the Irish monk Abbennus, the mythical founder of the monastery of Abingdon, Hist. Monast. de Abingdon (R.S.), i. 2-3; cf. 13-16 of the life. ^ The Stowe MS. was written in 1627 by Domnall 0'Duinnin (Dineen). Of the fifteen lives contained in it, ten are found also in the Brussels MS. 2324 x 3340; viz. Abban, Ailbe, Bairre, Carthach, Cranatan, Finan of Cenn Eitig,

xxviincidents of

INTRODUCTIONMand S, butis

nearer to the latter', thoughIt is

it

is

not

probably incomplete at the end . Colgan (A. S. p. 651") says that he had two Irish lives of Abban. One of these was certainly the above-named Brussels MS., which is one of 0'CIery's MSS.^ What the other one may have been I dodirectly dcrived from either.

not know.

Vita Sancti Aedi episcopi filii Bricc '. This life is printed here from M, f. 134'', collated with T, f iio''. Two other Latin lives of Aed are known, one in S, f. 108'' (C S cc. 333 fi".), the other in R' f. 97", R^ f. 149'', and F. p. 165. The life vvas printed by Colgan, A. S. pp. 418 ft", probably from M.'^

Finnchua, Fursa, MoLiga, and Senan. Of these, three, viz. Bairre, Cranatan, Fursa, are definitely stated by 0'Clery to have been copied from a vcllum book belonging to Domnail 0'Duinnin in 1629 tvvo. viz. Finnchua and Senan, are definitely stated to have been taljen from other MSS. Inregard to the remaining five, viz. Abban. Ailbe, Carthach. Finan. and Molaga, noihing is stated as to thc source whence they were derived but probably they also come from the Dincen Velhim. But if so, one or othor, or both, of the scribes took extraordinary liberties with the original. For not only do the two MSS. differ constantly in vocabulary and phrasing. even while preserving the same sense but one is sometimes shorter and sometimes longer than the other, while the Brussels MS. has two chapters which are in the Latin lives but are omitted in Stowe. In other points, too, the Brussels MS. is nearer to the Latin, and perhaps rcpresents a revision made by some one who had the Latin texts before him. Where it is necessary to distinguish between the two MSS. they are cited as Ir. (Du.J;

;

;

and

Ir.

OCurrynot say*

(Br.) respectively. prints c. 26 of the

They differ luither in the divisions of the chapters. Stowe text in Manners and Customs, iii. 44, but does

whence he got it. Thus it contains 39, which, as we have seen, is not in M. In the Stowe MS. is a note by a later hand ni fes dam an crioch a bhetha,' i. e. 1 don't know whether this is the end of his life while 0'Clery^:

'

i

;

life

ni fuil Jiiiil sunn ar bhethad Abb.ain,' i. e. there is no finit here to the notes of Abban. ' A life of Abban stands first in the list of Irish lives of saints cited above, p. X ad calcem, from Rawl. B. 487, f. 74 v". * Pedigrees of Aed are given LL. 347'', L Br. 13', BB. 215/, Laud 610 f. 38"^, Rawl. B. 486 f. 35'' also in the metrical Naemsenclius, BB. 230'' he is descended from Niall of the nine hostages. In the F^Iire Nov. 10 he is called 'don rigraid', of the princes, which agrees with this royal pedigree, tliough a gloss on thc passage interprets thc phrase metaphorically as meaning that he was de sanctis '. Nov. 10 is his ordinary date in Ihe calendars thc Martyrology of Tallaght gives him at Fcb. 28, and it is at ihat dale that Colgan givcs his life. Unfortunatcly thc Martyrology of Tallaght is dcfective for November. Nov. 10 is the so we cannot tcll whether it mentioned him again at Nov. 10. date of his death in our life. The S and R texts do not give the day, Ihough by thcir use of thc vvord 'hodie' in describing his dcath, thcyshow that thcy were intended to be uscd as homilieson hisanniversary. A later entry in Mart. Don. at Nov. 16 says. do rcir a bhethaidh is aniugh ata a flieil,' i. e. accordiiig to his life his festival is to-day. The statcmcnt is not true of any of our existing lives. If Nov. 10 is his death day, Fcb. 28 may be a festival of dedication or translation. " Colgan's text agrees closely with M. In only one instance havc I noticed that it agrees with T against M (viz. 'sensit* for 'sentit In 3 in 20;. Colgan omits the word 'intcger'. In M this word is written above the linc, and might be ovcrlooked. In T it occurs in the text.: ' ; ; ' ; ' '

THE SEPARATE LIVESTheclearly

xxvii

three recensionsall

M

T, S, and

R

are often very close together,original.

shovving that they

come from some coinmonthis

And S

is

have edited independently. R is of the two much nearer to the common source than M T there are the usual omissions of proper names, &c., and the usual insertion of ecclesiastical padding, but the only section of the S text which is omitted wholly by R is i8. The M T editor has gone to work much more drastically. He omits the most characteristic parts of S, II, 13; and the whole of 19,21,22,33,36,39,42-4,49, He also tones down passages in his original which might be 51. likely to cause difflculty or scandal '. The only positive addition madc by M T is in 6 (consecration of Aed as bishop). The M T text is therefore of little independent value, but is interesting forpurposes of comparison as a specimen of the way in which earlier lives were treated by later scribes. The S text itself shows signs of compilation from various sources. Thus the story of Aed's chariot flying through the air is repeated in different forms no less than four times over ( II, 19, 36, 42); and in all four cases the story is retained by R and omitted by M T. I know no Irish life of Aed mac Bricc. By origin Aed belongs to Neath or the southern Hy Neill and that is the main sphere of his activity according to the lives, though we find him also in his mother's country, Munster, and in Connaught and Leinster. Nothing, on the other hand, is said to explain his connexion with Slieve League in Donegal, where his cult stilloriginal, vi^hich; ;

nearest to

R

and

MT

survives, unless the incident inrefers to that district-.

S

16

(much altered

in

MT

12),

Compare 5 9. n, 14 with the corresponding parts of S referred to or cited the notes. In the last-named section the curious story of the birth of Aed is omitted, which the S text has transferred bodily from the secular literature cf Zimnier in Giltt. gel. Anz. 1891, p. 170. In the original story (LU. 52'' 10 ff. Finnian of Magh Bile is associated with Aed. [R omits the whole section.] It was this expurgated character of the recension which commended it to Colgan. He says of R ,and the remark is a fortiori applicable to S, which Colgan also refers to lower down that it contains quaedam . quae plus examinationis postularent quam apportant utilitatis'. p. 422". From the fact that in 31 the monastery of Inishboffin in Lough Ree is spoken of as still existing. Colgan argues that our life must have been written before 1089, when that monasterj' was destroyed bj' the Danes. ^ In S Aed produces a fountain in order to wash the heads of three decapitated maidens. I have suggested in the Index that this Fons Puellarum' may be the Tobur na m-ban-naomh' or Fount of the female saints, at the foot of Slieve League. For the tres puellae of the S R text, T substitutes tres uiri '. and Colgan in his note on the pas.=age says that near Killare in West Meath, Aed*s principal church, was a fountain called 'Tobur na b-fear', or the Men's fountain. seem to have here an interesting case of a legend being'

in

Slane

;

1

MT

*

i

.

.

'

'

'

'

M

'

We

different forms to account for two different place-names. Colgan, p. 423*", notices his connexion with Slieve League. and a seventeenth-century ' colitur note in R- says : ac apud Sliab Lieghe celebratur diuinis sacrificiis et

told in

two

xxviii

INTRODUCTIONdistinct,(cf. 6,

Mythologically he seems to shovv traces, not perhaps veryof a fire or solar deity' or heroit

and S

11,19, 22, 36, 42),

and

harmony with this that he appears as a tamer of animals ( 9, 22 S 14), a healer of disease ' ( 13), and a releaser of captives ( 23, 25, 38 S 37, 49). In the historical framework of the lives there is not much to take exception to. Aed himself is said to have died in 589. He is made contemporary with Ciaran of Cluain, +549 Becc mac De, ^553 or 558 Molaisse of Devenish, ^564 or 571 Diarmait mac Cerbaill, ^565 or 572 Columba +597 and Cainnech, ^599 or 600. Less probable is his association in the S R text with Brigit, who died according tois

not out of

;

;

;

;

;

;

;

F M in 525 and with Rioc, if the latter was, as the R text of 31 and other authorities assert, a nephew of St Patrick ^. Vita Sancti Albei archiepiscopi de Imlech *. This hfe is here printed for the first time from T, f. 132'' collated with M, f. 135'' bis.;

T

is taken as the basis rather than M, because is unfortunately mutilated by the loss of a leaf, f. 137, in the middle. Two other Latin lives of Ailbe exist one in S, f. 90" (C S cc. 235 ff.) the other;

M

;

in

R'',

f.

130''.

In R' this

life

has been

lost,

owing

to the mutilation of

graciarum actionibus decimo die mensis Nouembris.' Colgan also that his birth stone with the cavity still existed in his daj' in the churchyard of Killare, and was visited with great devotion. ' This raay have been helped by his name, aed being one of the Irish wordsmultifariis

says on

I

for fire.

and the quaint explicit of R* founded on it see above, p. xx, This side of his character, though not prominent in the lives, comes out in other traditions about him. In a fragmentary life of Brigit in Rawl. B. 512 he is callcd suiliag', i. e. professor-Ieech, or mcdical expert (f. 33'^], and Brigit goes to him to cuie her headache. And Mi'. Stokes, in a note on the parallel passage in thc Lismore Life of Brigit, points out that this conception of him is old, for in a charm printed by Mone from an eighth-century MS. ^Hj'mni Mcdii Aeui, iii. 181, 182) the following lines occur Aido mech Prich beniuola posco pura precamina, Ut refrigerat (sic) flumina mei capitis calida. Curat capui cum renibus, &c. And again 'meum caput ut hberat.' (Lismore Lives, p. 324; cf. R. C. xxi. 267 8.) ' Dr. Todd, however, regards this relationship as a later fiction, basing his argument largely on thc chronology of the lives of our saint, Liber Hymnorum,'

On2.

this incident

note

*

:

:

The name Acd is freguently anglicized into Hugh, and the transpp. 114-16. lator of the Annals of Clonmacnois notices that some courageous chronologers idcntified our saint with .St. Hugh of Lincoln, p. 91. An account of Aed's wouder-working b.ichall enclosed in a metal shrine is in Mart. Don. p. xli. ' Tliere are pedigrces of Ailbe in LL. ^^g'^, L Br. 16, BB. 219" cf ib. 232" ad calccm, Rawl. B. 502 f. s^"", Laud 610 f. 38'', Fel." p. 206. Ilis day in the calendars is Scpt. 12, but Mart. Tall. gives him also at Sept. 10. As Mart. Don. notes, he is one of the saints celcl>tated in Cuimin of Connor's poem on thc saints of Ireland, I. 61 of Stokes' eciition, Z. C. P. i. 59 fT. And. as Mart. Don. also notcs, thcrc is a metrical rule attributcd to him beginning 'Abairdain fri mac Sarain ', i. e. tcll for mc to the son of Saran (cf. also Mart. Don. Mar. 15). This has bccn printed from four MSS. by Mr. Joseph 0'NeiII, ^riu, iii. 92 fT.;

TIIEthat

SEPARATE LIVES;

xxix

MS. at the cnd '. The Bollandists (A. S. Scpt. iv. 26 ff.) give an historical criticism of Ailbe's liCe but they do not print any of the above texts '. The three recensions M T, S, R all clearly go back to a common original. S is certainly nearest to that original, vvhich M T and R have independently edited, R being of the two much thc nearer to S. R, however, omits many interesting details, names of places and persons, and also whole sections (S 35, 37, 40, 44, 50). R also makes additions to the text of S, but they are usually of the nature of ecclesiastical padding', scriptural parallels, and the like, and seldom increase our knowledge. M T also omits whole sections of S ( 23, 26, 28, 38, 41, 44), and it should be noted that, except in one instance'', these omissions do not coincide with those of R. M T also omits many interesting points in S " and both of the later recensions show a tendency to tone down or omit points in their original which were likcly to give offence or not to be understood ". But M T, like R, also makes additions of its own ', somctimes of doubtful value.;

'

like F,^*

This life a!so exists in F, rrom R\ Cod. Clar. 39

p. iii,(

and among Ware's Transcripts (copied,4788)f.

= MS. Add.

72.:

They knew of the three recensions mentioned above, but say of all three non sunt nisi quaedam figmentorum farrago, quae risum pariter ac stomachum lectori moueant.' They cite a letter from Hugh Ward saying eius vitara: ' . . .

habeo ex duobus diuersis codicibus Hibernicis et aliis duobus Latinis. Vita quam fecit latinam D. Osullevanus ex codice comitis de Birhaven etiam est penes me.' The two Latin codices contained probably two out of our three lives.

Whether the two Irish codices contained two different lives, or only tvvo copies whether either or both of these were identical with the life of the same Hfe;

which 0'SuIIivan translated into Latin, and with the Irish life mentioned below, I do not know. The BoIIandists note that a mass for St. Ailbe'3 day occurs in the Missal of Clement XII printed at Paris 1734. ^ A curlous specimen is given in the notes to 47. * The omission of the story of Conchobar and the Crucifixion, S But as 3. this involves an anachronism of some four centuries, this instance may perhaps be refiarded as an interpolation by S rather than as an omission by M T and R. ^ Apart from smaller omissions, such as proper names, compare 32, 34, In 7 two separate miracles of S R (S 7, 8) 38, 42 with S 37, 40, 46, 50. are combined into a single narrative. ^ Thus in 4 both tone down the skinless coracle of S into a ship in bad repair in i8 M T inserts words making the sin of the couple against the saint detraction Compare also in S 20 it is evidently a violation of the se.x taboo. 14, 19, 31 [where the obscure Irish word diberc is omitted also by R], 35, with S 16, 21, 36, 42. Note also in 38 (= S 46) how anxious R is to explain that the 'inebriation' caused by the sainfs breath was a spiritual;

;

inebriation.

Both e. g. 9, 13, 21, 22, 33 with S 10. 14, 15, 25, 29, 39. and R Ihere is a tendency to emphasize the inlluence of Rome which is less prominent in S see notes to 2, 22. In 37 the omission of the reason of the niission sent by Ailbe to Rome, viz. ut nouum ordinem celebrandi a Roma deducerent', may be due to a wish to disguise the implication that the Liturgy used by Ailbe had till then been non-Roman.'

Compare

in

MT

;

'

XXXTheonly Irishlife

INTRODUCTIONof Ailbe

known

to

me

isone contained

in

R.I.A.

pp. g^ff., and Brussels MS. 2324-40^ 139 ff. (an 0'Clery MS.), both seventeenth-century transcripts of the same (lost) original. This is cited occasionally in the notes as Ir. The refer-

Stowe MSS. No.

9,

ences are

to the

pages of the Stowe MS.

can be no doubt. an abbreviated translation of the M T recension. The account of Ailbe"s birth differssomewhat from i of M T, but apart from this it differs as a rule ^ only by abbreviation and omission '. M}'thoIogicalIy Ailbe seems to have attracted to himself some of the characteristics of a water deitj' ( 3, 4, 16, 20, 27, 45), and someto the relation of Ir. to the Latin lives thereIt is

As

of those of a fire or solar deity ( 6, 7, 10, 24, 40). His association with the wolves ( i, 44) is quite in harmony with the latter

aspect

'.

Geographically Ailbe belongs both byorigin and work to Munster*, though we find him occasionally in Leinster ( 27, 28), Connaught, ( 35> 36) and (on landing in Ireland from the Continent) in Ulster( 20, 21).

In the case of Ailbe, as in the case of one or

two othcr

saints,

we

have

to

consider the obscure question of pre-Patrician Christianity in^;

Ireland

for

Ailbe

is

of Ireland before the advent of St. Patrick

represented as active in the evangelization The chronology ( 22).

as

it

standsis

is

frankly impossible.

Annals

for Ailbe's death, 527, 534, 542.it

Three dates are given Even if we take the

in

the

earliest

of these,

impossible that a

man whois

actively preaching in Ireland for

some time

died in 527 could have been prior to 432 '. have

We

therefore to consider whether Ailbelife

really an early saint

whose

has been unduly prolonged forwards, perhaps in order to bring him up to the Celtic standard of longevity or whether he is a later saint whose life has been unduly prolonged backwards. I am inclined to think, with the Bollandists, that the latter is more;

'

It diffcrsIt

somewhat

in

30

A rendering cited in the notes to 5 30 that tlie translalor mistook tlie liniim of his original for lignuni. The translation mnst be late, as is proved by the word siolla = cella 28. ' From this point of vicw it is intcrcsting to notc that Ailbe is the name of Macdath6's famous hoimd, Ir. T i. 96 Hib. Min. p. 41 ; and ihat thc father of our Ailbe in the pedigrees is Olchii [gen. Olchon], thc great hound, or wolf. * He appears as thc patron saint of Munster in some verscs LL. 367 lower2

oniits altogether 26, 36, 43, 45.

shows

;

margin.^ The mcntion in 5 2, 3. an 7> i7> ^9) ^"'i the story of the healing of the wolf, 13, 14, harmonizes with this. And from this and other points of view the'' ;

lifc is

of great interest.^ 1.

Vita Sancti Brendani abbatis de Cluainferta'

This

life is

here

i. 134-5. Monboddo, of which the first part is probably is in the adjoining county of Kincardine. statement cited by Reeves i^Adamnan, pp. Ixviii f.) from one of the If the Irish lives of Cohimba, that in the year of the latter's birth and of Boetius' death Dec. 7 fell on a Thursday, could bc trustcd, this would point to either 517 or 523 the coincidcnce of the latter date with the second of the two dates given by Ann. Ult. is rather striking. The probable date of Columba"s death is 597. Bede says that he was seventy-seven when he died \,H. E. iii. 4). This would make him born in 520, vvhich agrees very fairly with the above

Celtic Scotland,

fiiom, a^

bog or moss,

;

datcs.^ *

See;

Dict. Christ. Biog. s.v. Teilo.

him

again thc name may have helpcd these myths to crystallize round the gloss cited above, buite .i. teine. that hjire. ' There are pcdigrees of Brendan LL. 349'', LBr. i5'', BB. 218/ (cf. ib. 232''), His ordinary day in I.aud 610 ff. 38-^, 40'', 41", Rawl. B. 486 f. 35'', Fcl.- p. 132. the calendar is May 16. calendar printed by Forbes, p. 85, gives liim at ' Egrcssio familie Brendini'; and at May 15. The Mart. Tall. at March 22 lias that date Colgan has givcn somc cxtracts from his lives, including 12-16 of the present life. Zimmer, Z. f. dcutschcs Alt. xx.xiii. 296, 299. understood this ' egressio to refer to Brcndan of Birr, on the ground of a passage in the voyage of Maclduin, R. C. x 72. But I am not convinced and cven if it bc so, I find it ditGcult to belicve that the whole of the lcgcnd of Brendan, the navig.itor of Clonfert, has been dcvcloped out of a misundcrstanding of this passage.

Herecf.

A

'

;

Why

THE SEPARATE LIVESprintcd for thefirst

xxxvii

time' from R'v.

f.

72'',

collated with

R'

f.

loi^

Itfiir

exists aiso in F, p. 50.

In an article published in Zeitschrift

Celtische Philologie,

124

ff

,

I

importance of this

R

text in theI

have endeavourcd to point out the development of the Brendan legend;

and

to that article

would refer

for a detailed discussion of the

mutual relations of the various authorities, Latin and Irish -. The may be recapitulated here. The main characteristic of R is that it is a conflation of a Latin Vita Brendani (V B) with the ordinary text of the Nauigatio Brendani (N B)' which, however, the compiler has edited after his fashion. The V B is followed to then the N B is taken up and followed to the end the end of 12 is resumed, and continued to the end. of66^; after which the The conflation is crudely done. Thus having told from N B how Brendan, in a single skin-covered coracle, and with only seventeen companions, successfully reached the Land of Promise, the compiler takes up the V B narrative, which relates how Brendan, with ninetychief points;

VB

should the story not have grovvn up round the true Brendan ? I also think that the relation of the Maelduin and Brendan stories requires further investigation. (The two Brendansare associated togetherin our text, 94, in the life of Ciaran of Saigir, 30, 31, in a story in Fel.' p. clxxiii, and in the Brendan story cited below from Egerton, 1781, (S:c.) The Mart. Don. cites in reference to Brendan 11. 37-40 of Cuimin of Connor's poem, and the table of parallel saints LL. 370", in which he is equated with St. Thomas the Apostle. In later times he was regarded as a special foe to the Scandinavian invaders perhaps he disliked tliem as rival navigators, Three Fragments, pp. 262-6. His connexion with northern;

Britain

is

illustrated

by

a storj- in

Adamnan's Columba,

iii.

17, in

which

he, with

Comgall, Cainnech, and Cormac Ua Liathain, paid a visit to St. Columba. He has many dedications in Scotland, Forbes' Calendars, p. 287. Several writers understand the allusions to Britannia in the lives as referring to Brittany. This is carried out most thoroughly by Messrs. Baring Gould and Fisher in their They have shown that the cult of recent Lives of British Saints i. 233 ff. Brendan exists in Brittany but to maintain, as they appear to do, that wherever a dedication or festival is found we maj' assume a visit of the saint, seems to me very rash. The Brittany view is taken by the translator of the Brussels Irish life. In the passage corresponding to 87 below it is said that Brendan founded a church dianid ainm Bleit ccrich Letha,' i. e. the name of which Perhaps there is some confusion between is Bleit in the region of Armorica. Tir Etha, Tiree, and Tir Letha, Armorica. And in the name of the church, said to have becn founded by Brendan, Bledach, Bledua. Bleit, there maybe a trace of the whale. ble by the fact that the Judas episode occurs at the ordinary place, where, in R, it is omitted see note to 59. * Lives of Saints from the Book of Lismore (^Anecdota O.Koniensia, 1890), pp. 99 ff. ' Marks of contamination are seen in the change from talam derrit of tir tairngire of 1. 3564 (= terra re1. 3561 (= terra secreta VBl to the promissionis sanctorum, N Bj from the five years of unsuccessful wandering in 1. 3954 ^V B' to seven years in 11. 3609, 3717 (,N B"i. The passage, I. 3609, occurs in the story of the whale and 1 am inclined to think that the whale does not belong to the original V B text at all. It does not occur in S-, the purest V B text which we have. If this is correct, then R 96 would be a later; ' ''

'

;

;

addition. * In this

I differ from Zimmer's Essay, Zeits. f. deutsches Alterthum xxxiii. This Latin original is possibly alluded to in 1. 3740: amal 257 ff. atberat na scribinn,' i. e. as writings atfirm. ' One small addition has a curious explanation. In I. 3575, speaking of B.'s first embarkation with ninety companions, the writer says nirbat cleirig uile '

129

fif. ,

'

:

(they were not all clerksi. If 'clerks' means secular clerks as opposed to monks, this is an understatement, for none of them were clerks in that sense. If it means ihat they were not all clerks in the general sense of ecclesiastics, it is untrue. The explanation is to be found in the ninth line of the little poem which follows ' nochu cleirchiu luid uile ' (^ninety clerks in all they went). The prose writer has mistaken the Irish numeral nochu or nocha (ninety) for the Irish negative 'nocha'. Some of these additions may come from Irish sources e. g. the story of the calming the whirlpool, L 3617 fi"., is found in the Irish Brendan story in Egerton 1781 f. 152'', on which see below, p. xli. The; ' ' ' ' ;

whale might

also

come from

this source.

xlIt is

INTRODUCTIONunfortunately incomplete.1.

The latter part as printed by Stokes' 3880 onvvards) really belongs to the Fis Adamndin, or Vision of Adamnan. Stokes and Zimmer saw this, but thcy did not see the explanation, which is a pureiy mechanical one. In the(from

Vorlage of the scribe the Ffs Adamnain foUowed the life of Brendan immediately; owing to mutilation the end of the Brendan and the beginning of the Fis werc lost, but the scribe copied on contentedly, not noticing that anything was amiss^ come next to the Irish life of Brendan contained in Brussels I MS. 4190-420011". 224 ff. (Br.). This is an extraordinarily conflate work. The first forty-seven chapters consist of alternate slices of a life identical with L and an Irish translation of NB'. The remainder of the life is chiefly made up of matter identical with that but in this are inserted contained in the latter part of R ( 76-105) incidents taken from other sources, such as the tales of Brendan' ' ;

and Dobarchu (c. 53), and the story of Brendan and the bird angel (c. 67J which are found separately in Irish MSS.*' And also as found in the Paris MS. and in Stowe MSS. No. ix. (For the use of a photograph of the Paris MS. I am indebted to the kindness of the All these three MSS. therefore go back to a late Mr. Whitley Stol^es.)

common^I

defective Vorlagc '. have pointed out, p. .xxxviii, note 6, a similar instance in the text of S'; anotlier occurs in R^ f. 50, wlicre mcdiaeval and modern cataiog:uers have alike failed to notice that, owing to mutilation, there isa sudden transition from the life If this explanation is correct, it upsets all the arguof Fursa to that of Moling. ments which Zimmer has based on the supposition that the conllation of the Brendan and the Fis was intcntional. That it is correct is strongly confirmed by the Brussels Irish life to be mentioned next. The first part of this is taken The part taken from this